What can feel better than finishing a crochet wip on which you have been working for several months? I am not fond of large and epic projects as there are so many other ideas flying around. And my brain wants to catch each and everyone, and to develop it into a new design. But with a large project going on it’s not possible. So even though crochet blankets are very attractive I try to hold myself and reject them (always against my will). But there is one, very-very special, blanket I couldn’t resist. From the very beginning I knew I MUST make it. And this is Last Dance On The Beach CAL hosted by Scheepjes. Last week I finally finished it and today I am so very excited to share pictures with you.

This blanket has lots of meanings for me. I am very proud to be a part of this wonderful project as a designer. Together with my blogger friends we created square motifs for this blanket to bring into life CAL idea of Marinke Slump (aka Wink) from A Creative Being… Marinke tragically passed away last summer, and Scheepjes initiated Last Dance on the Beach CAL in a memory of this talented, kind, open hearted young lady. You can read more information about this CAL in my blog post HERE.

Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to meet Marinke in person… To be honest at the moment I lack words to express my thoughts precise, and correctly … Many people in the world struggle with depression. It’s an invisible enemy crashing people’s lives. Last Dance on the Beach CAL united literally thousands of people who were making blankets in different parts of the world. Who were sharing their love, and who were trying to show that everyone’s life matters.

After this CAL started I read many thankful comments over different social media channels. Everyone of us feels damaged, and frustrated, and broken, and deeply sad from time to time. Someone lives with this through entire life… and then it’s very important to know you are not alone. That together we can make each other’s life a lit bit better. I know Last Dance on the Beach CAL brought light to many homes, and families and lives. And these are not just the words...

There were kits in three different colourways available for Last Dance on The Beach CAL: Dance in the Sea, Dance in the Rain and Dance under the Stars. Kits are no more available for purchase but if you visit Wool Warehouse HERE* and click each of the kit, you will see exact shades and yardages used for each blanket. There were basic kits with premium acrylic yarn Colour Crafter and luxury kits with Merino Soft. You can also create your own colour combination. In THIS blog post about the kits you will see how many skeins of each colour are needed to finish the blanket. And all patterns are available on Scheepjes website HERE.

Scheepjes donated small amout of money on every sold kit in Marinke Slump’s name. And after CAL was finished a cheque of 18.100 euros was handed to organization Mind. And it means many more people will get help in their struggles on the way to light.

I am very proud my own blanket is now finished! I wanted to make Last Dance in the Rain but in a slightly different colour combination. I left out whites and browns, and only used the shades of grey and blue. I forgot to weight each square before joining, so yardages are not exact…

I missed autumn this year. My favourite season. And I can’t believe it… Every autumn we used to walk with my dog through the woods, smelling wet air and looking at the colorful happiness around. And this year everything was too fast. I was too busy with designing and preparations for a move to a new apartment. And when I could finally breathe again – autumn was gone… But I got a lucky chance to see its last traces in Holland where I met with my blogger friends – a creative team collaborating with Scheepjes company.

Last weekend felt like a fairy tale. Holland is getting prepared for Christmas and looks festive with all cute and stylish decorations and evening lights everywhere. We were driving in the dark from Almere to up North together with Nerissa, Dedri and Sarah. We were looking at cute small houses in the suburbs of Groningen. And the scenery was filled up with magic.

And next morning I saw my autumn. With small drops of water on grass quivering in the morning sun, with brown and wet leaves covered by fog, with fresh and moist air I missed so much. I was home…

What are Scheepjes Bloggers Days about? They are all about yarn and crochet. I usually spend all my days at home. I don’t go to public places very often as I am pretty happy with my small crochet world. I don’t normally crochet in public. And I was amazed to see the reaction of people when I started to crochet at Schiphol airport (where I had 3 hours to wait for Sarah’s and Dedri’s flight). People looked very interested. Some of them commented: “oh, that’s pretty” or “oh, you are so fast”. But many of them were smiling. Just looking and smiling! And I felt like crochet makes people happy. And maybe a world stuffed with technologies and mobile phones, and internet – a little bit better.

And I thought – we, crafters, should bring our crafts to public more often. And I am not talking about craft fairs or yarn shows… Maybe we should even think or a world’s flash mob - just pick exact time and go crochet to streets, cafes, everywhere. It would be nice to see people smiling. Let’s the whole world stop for 15 minutes, step away from internet, and just smile. We crocheted a lot during Scheepjes Bloggers days, or we were talking about crochet and yarns. And it felt very natural and comfortable.

Scheepjes Bloggers Days are about meeting friends, hugs and laughter; they are about learning, sharing creativity, inspiration, experience, ideas. This time Scheepjes invited Kate from A Playful Day to give a photography workshop. I am trying to grow my photography skills but very often it feels like my pictures are not telling the story themselves. It was so nice to meet Kate and hear lots of useful advice. And I have finally found a common language with my phone. I could even make a few shots with it. What do you think? :) (Many thanks to Dedri from Look At What I Made for capturing my creative process and struggles!)

For me personally Scheepjes Bloggers Days are about dreams coming true. I have met Susan from Felted Button for real! Three years ago when I was not even thinking about designing, I found her Etsy shop and was staring for hours at colors and textures. I wished I could be able to come up with something like this myself one day… And after three years I meet her, and talk to her!

Scheepjes Bloggers Days are about finding way back to yourself. After several months of instant stress and fear not to be in time, I have finally breathed out. Two days of “my own autumn” in Holland helped me to discover peace and creativity again… I’ve got LOTS of ideas! And I feel strong again to bring them to life…

If you follow me for at least a year, you may know that last November I participated in 2nd Annual Sales Event. And I am happy to be a part of this again this year. I teamed up with 23 brilliant crochet designers to bring you the best offer of the year, with games, prizes, giveaway and discounts of course.

If you have been thinking about trying some of my patterns, now it’s right time to do so. 3rd Annual Sales Event is going on right now, and you can use code ENABLER to save quite a bit in my Ravelry store HERE. The code is valid for all my paid patterns, and the more you purchase, the larger your savings will be. You can use this offer through Monday, November 28th.

Code ENABLER is also valid for all paid patterns in Ravelry stores of all 24 participating designers. Click the links below to discover hundreds (and thousands) of amazing crochet patterns and choose your favourites!

Know participating designers well? Then you can enter a fun Trivia game “Name That Design” for a chance to win gift card. Each of 3 winners will get 40$. Not sure how to participate? It’s very easy. Just click THIS form and enter your answers. Submit and you are all done. The lucky winners will be announced and e-mailed on Tuesday, November 29th.

If you feel like the questions are too difficult, just have a closer look at the patterns in each designer’s Ravelry store. And I am sure, all the answers are there.

Festive season is right here! I bet you are already busy with preparations, gift and home decorations making. For some reason I am very late with this every year. I am working all days long and suddenly it’s Christmas and I don’t have anything prepared. This year I decided to begin pretty in advance. I have quite a few gifts already waiting to be wrapped. And I have started to make hanging decorations. Our family moved to another apartment last weekend and I am so happy to have all my yarns and boxes unpacked. So that I can peacefully continue to grow my festive garland.

Have you seen it? I had lots of fun making small colorful baubles and joining them into a garland. You can read everything about it HERE. And I will be adding something more intricate – new Snow Baubles made in overlay crochet. Last year I created a small collection of Christmas hanging decorations (Starry Dream, Starry Day, Frozen Snowflakes and Winter Pastels Balls) and I thought it would be nice to add something new this year, too. My idea was to create a bauble with a snowflake pattern.

The pattern has been just released and you can purchase it HERE on Ravelry or HERE on Etsy.

As any other overlay crochet pattern, Snow Baubles are very versatile. They can be used as separate hanging decorations (for a Christmas tree, for example, and you can attach a ribbon into the joining seam, and maybe some beads), they can also be joined into garland and this is how I will use them.

And there is no need to hide them into a box after festive season is over. These baubles will become perfect decorations for nursery. Or you can even use them as pet toys! I’ve made several for my dog and she loves to play with them.

I chose 4 shades for my baubles. You can make them with true Christmas colors, or take any shades you like. Almost every type of yarn will work for this pattern (but maybe not too fluffy, structured and fuzzy yarns, and they make overlay image less vivid), but I would recommend to choose solid and contrast enough shades.

I personally prefer stiff cotton yarns for my overlay work. For Snow Baubles I used Sport yarn Catania by Schachenmayr (available for purchase online via Craftsy* and Loveknitting*). Of course you can use DK, worsted yarn or even thread to crochet baubles. Yarn weight will only influence the size of your finished bauble. And of course you should use appropriate crochet hook (I used 2.5mm /C).

Each bauble consists of two “cups” joined together with flat “zip” method and stuffed with amigurumi stuffing. Don’t worry if you don’t have certain kind of stuffing, as you can use your old pillows for this purpose. You can also put some herbs, cinnamon and other spices inside your baubles to make them not only look but also smell festive.

Like the pattern but not sure you can handle it? In fact it’s much easier to make Snow Baubles than it may seem. They look a bit intricate but only usual crochet stitches are used here. The pattern contains lots of step-by-step pictures to guide you through every round. So even though it is ranked as Intermediate, Advanced Beginners should also be able to follow it. And if you are an experienced crocheter and don’t need all the pictures, you can use a “print copy” of this pattern with only text.

I’ve only finished two Snow Baubles so far but need to make more. So I am back to my crochet. And see you soon again!

DISCLOSURE: This blog contains affiliate links. If you purchase a (any) product via a link on my blog, I get a small percentage contribution from the store which enables me to keep providing you with free patterns. It costs you nothing extra to visit the store via my link, but ensure I get the credit for the sale. Thank you for your support!

Have you started to create gifts and decorations for a festive season? I am in rush every year so this time I decided to begin pretty in advance. And as my favourite shapes are circle (mandala), square and sphere, I decided to make a small garland with colorful crocheted baubles.

Have you made any baubles? It’s so relaxing and pleasing. Each small bauble is made in no time. And it’s a small finished object which can be used right away. As a pin cushion maybe?

I bet there are hundreds of crochet patterns for any kinds of simple baubles. So I decided not to invent anything and just to find a ready pattern and follow it. Did you know that crocheted spheres can be very different and not all of them are (mathematically) ideal? I was so happy to find Ms Premise-Conclusion blog. She has worked out a formula to make a perfect crocheted sphere. And her pattern is free. You can find it HERE. What is great is that she created instructions for baubles in different sizes. So whatever yarn weight and crochet hook you have, you can make the size you need.

To make these baubles I used 2.5mm (C) crochet hook and Sport 100% cotton yarn Catania by Schachenmayr. It’s available in different shades on Craftsy* and Loveknitting*. I chose not very bright colours. And stuffed my baubles with stuffing for amigurumi (if you don’t have any special stuffing – don’t worry. You can use stuffing from your old pillow).

After all you baubles are finished you can join them into garland. All you need is the same yarn (long enough tail) and a needle with big eye. A tapestry needle can work just fine.

Insert the needle into beginning whole and pull it through the bauble. You can make knots on both sides to secure baubles from moving.

That’s it! Your festive garland is ready! Have you put up a Christmas tree already? I haven’t! I have to think about it... :)

DISCLOSURE: This blog contains affiliate links. If you purchase a (any) product via a link on my blog, I get a small percentage contribution from the store which enables me to keep providing you with free patterns. It costs you nothing extra to visit the store via my link, but ensure I get the credit for the sale. Thank you for your support!

Ok, it seems like I am writing about handmade blankets again and again. Am I turning into a blanket person? I hope so! Blankets are very cozy and they make great gifts. Earlier this week I shared a free knitting pattern of my new Forest Spirit baby blanket. And today I would like to tell you something else. If you haven’t heard about it yet, a new (second) issue of Scheepjes YARN book-a-zine* was published in October. And it features my new Moonlight Butterfly baby blanket design.

Did I tell what it feels like to see your name in print? I hope I will never get used to it. And every time I will be as excited as when I got mail from the Netherlands with freshly printed copy of YARN. Maybe I am totally old-fashioned. But I just love to turn pages of a real printed magazine, and to smell the print. And to turn pages of a new Midnight Garden issue is a true journey to the world of esthetic pleasure.

October 2016 issue is full of mystery, night dreams, foggy and super stylish pictures. With a feel and smell of festive season coming. 15 new patterns (mainly crochet, but also knitting and sewing) are featured. And I am so honored to be a part of this fantastic project again (just to remind you, two my designs were published in 1st Sea Issue of YARN book-a-zine. These are Striped knitted top and Stepping Stones crochet pouf cover. You can read my review of this publication HERE).

This time I created a small and cute baby blanket with butterfly motifs. Scheepjes wanted me to design something for a chapter “Fluttering in the Wind” and I immediately thought of a square with colorful butterfly. I wanted to create a blanket which would remind a print with plain background (I finally chose grey shade) and many butterflies in different colours. Later when I started to play with yarn, I decided to make butterfly’s antennas free standing. So that small hands could explore them, it would give babies a nice motoric experience.

For this design I combined SoftFun and SoftFun Aquarel yarns by Scheepjes in dusty, washed out shades. Moonlight Butterfly blanket is not bright, and I avoided to use pink to make it unisex. This pattern is ranked as intermediate mostly because of the butterfly’s shape and not regular repeats. But all the stitches used in this pattern are very common. And advanced beginners should handle it without a problem.

I definitely should tell you more about 2nd issue of YARN book-a-zine. When reviewing something, I try to be as objective as possible. And I should say that I absolutely love this edition. Every small detail is well polished, the whole issue has a very clear and nice festive concept, it’s printed on a thick and mat paper, the photography is great! When you hold it in hands, it feels like a lasting for years book rather than a magazine.

Let me show you several of my personal favourites (sorry, I am not free to give away everything, and it would also spoil your own “ohhh” and “ahhh”). Designs you see in the picture below are created by Miss Neriss.

Except of the patterns you will find useful articles, for example about how to choose a crochet hook. And you will get acquainted with fiber and textile artists. YARN is featuring Mr. Finch!!! Do you know him? If not – that’s a huge mistake. I started to follow him on Facebook 2 years ago. It’s the most brilliant and mystery textile artist I know!

Every issue of YARN book-a-zine has a very handy flop in the end, with all abbreviations used in the patterns, punched holes and blank pages which you can use to keep yarns and shades under control and to make notes about your projects. I used mine to plan Lapghan with Spirit yarn*, designed by Dedri from Look At What I Made.

DISCLOSURE: This blog contains affiliate links. If you purchase a (any) product via a link on my blog, I get a small percentage contribution from the store which enables me to keep providing you with free patterns. It costs you nothing extra to visit the store via my link, but ensure I get the credit for the sale. Thank you for your support!

My new Forest Spirit baby blanket is finished, and today I can share a free pattern with you. I am very happy with the final result. This blanket is very light and airy, but warm at the same time. And the colour changes within every stripe are so nice. This project is very easy and is suitable for beginners. Self-patterning Spirit yarn* helps to reach a wonderful effect with the most basic knitting garter stitch.

Probably it’s better to call this pattern a "tutorial", as I am not experienced in writing knitting patterns. But I tried to explain every step. And you will also find complete information about shades I used, their colour way and yardages. You can see more pictures with the finished blanket HERE.

Gauge

With garter stitch 19sts x 36 rows = 10cm x 10cm (4in x 4in)

Size

Tutorial is written for one size: approx. 85cm x 110cm (33 1/2in x 43in) when stretched.

But you can easily adjust its width by casting on more (or less) stitches in the beginning. And if you want a longer blanket you can just knit more rows (and make some of the stripes wider according to your taste). For example, if you want to make your blanket 10cm (4") longer - you should add 36 rows.

Border

Border is made with same circular needles in rounds, always on the right side. To get a garter stitch effect, you should knit and purl on every other round. HERE is a video tutorial about how to work with garter stitch in rounds.

You should also make 2 increases in each corner on every other round (when you knit, not purl).
You can read about different ways to increase HERE. Please, choose the one you are comfortable with. I worked twisted yo, k1, twisted yo in every corner for my blanket. Be sure to mark central stitch in the corner and move the marker to next rounds as you progress. It will help you easily find the stitch where you should make increase on next rounds.

Instructions (Border)

Continue to knit along another side, making k1 in every “ridge” till you come to next corner.

Make 2 increases in 1st st of the foundation row, k1 in each of next 138 sts of foundation row, make 2 increases in last st, turn a quarter.

Continue to knit along 4th side in a way as previous, make twisted yo (or 1 increase) and k1 in the same st where you began this round.

Rnd 2. Continue with yarn 304. P1 in every st around.
Rnd 3. Change to yarn 308. K1 in every st around making increases in every corner.

Rnd 4. Continue with yarn 308. P1 in every st around. Change to yarn 302.
Repeat rnds 3 and 4 with yarn 302, bind off loosely. Weave in all yarn tails using tapestry needle (you can weave them into the seam between the blanket and the border).

DISCLOSURE: This blog contains affiliate links. If you purchase a (any) product via a link on my blog, I get a small percentage contribution from the store which enables me to keep providing you with free patterns. It costs you nothing extra to visit the store via my link, but ensure I get the credit for the sale. Thank you for your support!

About me

Hello! My name is Tatsiana and Lilla Björn means "little bear" in Swedish. I live in the Czech Republic... But I love cold and grey sea, fresh windy air, and I like to crochet little bears.
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